Allen Toussaint: American Tunes review – an affecting swansong

Allen Toussaint, who died in November 2015: ‘weary but triumphant’.
Photograph: Dave Martin/AP

His final studio album proves an affecting swansong from the late New Orleans composer, producer, pianist and legend. Here Toussaint treats jazz classics by Fats Waller, Billy Strayhorn, Bill Evans and others to his intricate yet funky piano skills, much as he did on 2009’s The Bright Mississippi. Rhiannon Giddens adds muscular vocals to a brace of Duke Ellington tunes, but it’s mostly a low-key, instrumental affair. Toussaint’s hero, Professor Longhair, is twice honoured, his rollicking piano replicated on Hey Little Girl, and teased into neoclassicism on Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Toussaint was no great singer but his version of American Tune – one of Paul Simon’s finest pieces – is heartfelt, weary but triumphant.